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Nancy Klemens's Discussions
teaching basic essay writing
Replied Oct. 19, 2009
teaching basic essay writing
4 Replies
Started this discussion. Last reply by Suzanne Rogers Oct. 19, 2009.
Nancy Klemens's Page
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My Gr. 9s have been doing 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. For background I cobbled together a timeline of the Civil Rights movement 1954-68 and collected a few of the most famous songs of the era. Email me at ericmacknight AT mac DOT com if you'd like a co…
We'll be starting Raisin in the Sun soon. Anyone have some good-pre Raisin activities,>>KWL?...or whatever you've got. Can be about civil rights as well.
Thanks much, Nancy K
We teach a simple essay format to middle schoolers. I like to call an essay a gift. I draw a square with sections on the board. This is what is contained in the gift. The wrapping of the gift includes the introduction and the conclusion. The hook an…
That form was so simple and so good. Just what the Dr. ordered. Thank you.
I explain that building an essay is like building a bike. You begin with a frame (see my attached frame, i.e. outline form). Then you add the main parts like tires, seat, pedals, and handle bars (the "beef" of the essay). After that you put on the l…
If you're after concrete, Jane Schaeffer is the way to go! It is very, very concrete and everyone from my special education kids to my should-have-taken-AP kids handle it well and produce great work. It's formulaic, but I compare it to learning to p…
Would love suggestions for a basic format for teaching HS English students (11th grade) how to write an essay. Yes, they should know how, no, many do not. I don't want to confuse things; I have many different cognitive levels including one class tha…
David, crazy question but do you have the answer key to this? Don't know if you want to send it through here or I could give you my email address.
Thanks, Nancy Klemens, 11th gr ELA
I thought this would make links automatically:
Teacher institute
WSS field notes
I'm in St. Ignatius--about the same size as White Sulphur Springs. Until my current job I worked for the Montana Historical Society in Helena--they kept trying to get me to move to Helena but I thought it appropriate that the World Headquarters for…
Paul, thanks for the music! Could be moving behind a power point presentation. How ironic--"Silver Creek School"?! I almost dropped my teeth when I saw that. That's MY school, Silver Creek, NY is the town where the flooding occurred. Us and Gowanda,…
Michael, Thank you so much. That was awesome, all the info. for oral history projects. I am excited about implementing some or all of the items you laid out here. I have to get approval from the English dept and Supt.'s office to do this, am hoping…
What a great way to respond to this sort of thing. It's valuable on lots of levels, both for the kids and for the community.
I can toss out a few observations. (And here's a guide to doing oral history projects I wrote a few years ago).
1. First,…
Michael Umphrey (who's on the Ning) has created great resources for helping students write about place and community. I sent him a message so hopefully he'll be able to respond here.
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- Where do you work?
- Silver Creek, NY HIgh School
- Choose all that apply to your job
- High School English Teacher
- What are you reading?
- Friday Night Lights, Bissinger
- How do you define your role/work?
- Constant quest to keep English engaging and relevant
Nancy Klemens's Blog
Raisin in the Sun/civil rights
We'll be starting Raisin in the Sun soon. Anyone have some good-pre Raisin activities,>>KWL?...or whatever you've got. Can be about civil rights as well.
Thanks much, Nancy K
Thanks much, Nancy K
Posted on November 8, 2009 at 7:01pm — 1 Comment
Catastrophic flood here--need help, ideas
Hi, this is the first time I've ever blogged. ( - : Two weeks ago we had a disastrous flood in my community. We have all been impacted, some to a greater degree than others. I lost my photo studio, others lost so much more: whole homes, cars, everything they own--basically their lives as they knew it. My understanding is that in our small school district well over 100 children have permanently lost their homes. I will be long-term subbing 11th grade English for 1/2 year, thank God. I am so glad… Continue
Posted on August 23, 2009 at 11:24am — 7 Comments
Comment Wall (2 comments)
- At 1:15pm on August 27, 2009,
Jim Burke said…
- Great question! www.ning.com is the company (think of it like www.facebook.com) that provides the service through which I create the EC Ning. So a "Ning" is what this space (not mine in particular but anything created through www.ning.com) is called, rather like wiki, blog, etc. Such strange words!
- At 9:47pm on August 18, 2009,
Jim Burke said…
- Hi Nancy,
Welcome to the EC Ning. Great to have you here.
Jim
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Hi Pat, I have never done these myself, but there are some great examples at VocabAhead Vocab Videos which also contains links to digital resources to help students create their videos. While most of the videos are done professionally, there is at l…
Thanks for your reply -- it was very helpful. I think I understand what you are saying -- kids do try to craft a dazzling sentence, rather than one with insight. And something simple can be insightful. But my concern is really the thinking behind th…
I would say comedy is underrepresented. My students have nicknamed my class "AP Sex & Death" as we tend to go to the dark side. I do try to use some comedy in preparation for a Q3 comedy prompt. We do use A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Color Purple…
Your "rambling" is fantastic. So much good advice. You know, I'm actually looking forward to writing now. I feel like I've got a handle on it.
Thanks for all of your comments.
I really like "Out of the Dust" by Karen Hesse. It is short and I think very accessible for struggling students. It won the Newberry Medal. Not only did it help me understand what the big deal was about the duststorms of the time, I thought it told…
And what about the fact that often writers don't know what their thesis is until they begin reflecting in writing about a subject or occurrence? Happens to me all the time.
Thank you so much everyone! I definitely have a better feel for how essential questions work. I've been able to brainstorm a few and included a few here. Feel free to tell me if I am way off base.
What does it mean to be an “Outsider”?
What makes…
Judith--
One opportunity is Teen Ink (http://www.teenink.com). This is a publication for teens only, ages 13-19, to submit and publish their work. The one draw back I found is that once accepted, Teen Ink keeps all rights to the work. This means ki…
Bill,
You have it wrong. I didn't say the theory has not had wide influence. I never said anything like that. I agree that it has had wide influence. What I said was I've never heard of teachers labeling themselves as constructivists or nonconstruct…
The Ugly Truth is that my number one goal for my students right now has to be to raise their 2010 standardized test scores.
I find it disturbing, off-base, heart-wrenching, and almost something shameful to admit. However, NCLB has my entire school'…
I am in search of a novel set during the Great Depression/Dust Bowl era. It will be used in a 10th grade history class; most of the students are struggling readers. The teacher would like to stay away from the "big name classics." He wants something…
Yay Doug! He was one of my teachers in pre-teaching grad school (itp.nyu.edu), and I'm a huge fan of his work. Thanks for posting this, Frank. I'm really excited to see what these guys have come up with this time.
I am looking for opportunities for high school students to publish their writing. I am in VT. We are part of the NWP and can certainly offer that to our students. I know about the Mountain Review, but I would really appreciate other venues where stu…
Oh, a marvelous poem, Carol -- by one of my favorite poets. In graduate school far back in the 60's, I took a creative writing class from Bly at the University of Kansas, and have never forgotten it. Thanks for the connection.
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